Vehicles typically include various conduits that extend between different components of the vehicle. Such conduits may include electrical conduits, e.g., wires, cables, etc., which may connect various components of the vehicle to power sources, computers such as controllers and/or data collection or monitoring modules, manual control devices, etc. Such conduits may also include conduits (e.g., pipes, tubes, etc.) for transport or containment of solid, liquid, or gaseous matter, such as HVAC conduits, hydraulic or pneumatic conduits, fuel conduits, and others. Still further types of conduits may be included in certain vehicles.
Trucks, such as refuse hauling trucks, and other vehicles often require certain conduits to pass through walls, panels, and other structural components in order to connect to the desired components. For example, many trucks have body controls and other components within the cab that need to be connected via conduits to components outside the cab. These conduits pass through the walls of the cab and/or body in connecting these components. Currently, passages for such conduits are cut by body builders when connecting body components to components within the vehicle cab. However, because these passages are formed after the equipment leaves the manufacturers, the manufacturers lack control over where such passages are formed. Thus, the manufacturers are unable to evaluate the effect of the passages on the structural integrity of the walls in which they are formed. It can be problematic for manufacturers to create such passages, however, because a single vehicle may be suitable for many different end uses, and some or all of such passages may not be used in all instances. Unused passages provide undesired environmental exposure to the inside of the cab. Additionally, the edges of these post-manufacturing passages are typically not covered by paint or other coatings, and are therefore exposed to the elements and more susceptible to corrosion. Further, even if builders cover such passages with grommets, gaskets, caulk/silicone, or other seals, the distance for environmental substances to travel through the passages is small, particularly in the case of passages through thin sheet metal walls. Thus, environmental substances can often easily migrate through the passages, despite the use of sealing structures.
Thus, while certain refuse hauling trucks and other vehicles according to existing designs provide a number of advantageous features, they nevertheless have certain limitations. The present disclosure seeks to overcome certain of these limitations and other drawbacks of the prior art, and to provide new features not heretofore available.